Asheville restaurant scene rejoices as Chai Pani and Cúrate win prestigious James Beard Awards

Another N.C. chef, Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham, also won

This story sponsored by Citizens Fuel Co., a family-owned Asheville company.

Two Asheville restaurants took home James Beard Foundation Awards, prestigious awards known as “the Oscars” of the restaurant industry, during a glitzy ceremony on Monday night. Chai Pani restaurant won Outstanding Restaurant, the top restaurant award, while Cúrate won Outstanding Hospitality, which honors a restaurant’s public-facing service and its internal efforts to create a sustainable workforce.

The prizes mark a significant coming-of-age milestone for an Asheville food scene known since the 1970s for its close connection to locally grown ingredients. In the early 2000s, Asheville’s tourism officials artfully (and rather brashly) branded the local community of cooks, chefs and restauranteurs “Foodtopia,” messaging that served to draw not only hungry foodies, but a new crop of creative chefs looking to put their own stamp on the well-established farm-to-table movement. Chai Pani opened its Indian street food restaurant on Battery Park Avenue in downtown Asheville in 2009, with Cúrate beginning to serve its Spanish tapas food two years later on Biltmore Avenue.

Meantime, the spectacular rise of Asheville’s craft beer scene over past 25 years all but eclipsed the incredible food offerings.

Until now.

Asheville chefs and restaurants had been nominated for James Beard awards numerous times in recent years, but had never won until Monday night. Winning two of the event’s biggest awards in one night was remarkable, an “insane night,” as one @ashevegas social media commenter put it. “Epic,” remarked another.

The ceremony, held inside the beautiful Chicago Lyric Opera theater that seats about 3,500, was extra special to attendees because it had been canceled the past two years. Indeed, the whole evening had an air of triumphant return (tinged with a little exhaustion) following all the pandemic-induced stresses that restaurants have faced the past two years.

Asheville, and North Carolina as a whole, went into the festivities with several strong finalists. Chef Katie Button of Cúrate was also vying for the honor of Best Chef: Southeast alongside three other chefs from N.C. (The winner was Chef Ricky Moore of Durham’s Saltbox Seafood Joint.) And Chef Cleophus Hethington of Benne on Eagle restaurant in Asheville was a contender in the Emerging Chef category. (Read Eater.com’s full list of winners here.)

Asheville’s winners appeared briefly overcome with emotion as their respective restaurant names were read and they made their way to the podium to accept a silver medal and deliver and acceptance speech.

Button, who made her way alongside her husband and business partner Félix Meana, credited him first, saying, “He is the vision of hospitality in our restaurant. He’s our chief experience officer we’ve named him because he creates all of the experiences for everybody.”

She added that, “Really, when we think of hospitality, it is everybody,” every restaurant employee. “They all deserve a wonderful life and wages that are thriving and benefits and care and to live and enjoy and have balance,” Button said.

“This is the award that brings us all together,” she said.

Chai Pani founder Chef Meherwan Irani stood on stage with his wife and business partner Molly Irani, as well as several of his restaurant team members, to accept his big award.

“Restaurants are so much greater than the sum of what’s inside the four walls,” Irani said. “A restaurant has the power to transform - transform the people that work there, transform the people that come in, transform the communities we’re in, transform society,” Irani said.

“Restaurants can transform the world.”

What affect will the James Beard Awards have on the respective Asheville restaurant champions? That remains to be seen. Button and Irani have proven themselves to be savvy, agile entrepreneurs. The awards will certainly burnish those credentials.

The Button business empire includes a brand new eatery that opened this spring, La Bodega by Cúrate, a wine club, and international food tours led by Meana. The Magnolia Network launched a reality show featuring Button last year called “From the Source.”

Irani, who operates a Chai Pani restaurant in Decatur, Ga., and an eatery called Botiwalla in Atlanta, also opened a brand new restaurant called Nani’s Piri Piri Chicken in downtown Asheville in 2020. He’s partnered with Chef Elliott Moss on Buxton Hall Barbecue and Buxton Chicken Palace in Asheville, and his local spice company, Spicewalla, is planning to open in a new storefront in downtown later this year.

A Beard award doesn’t necessarily put butts in seats, Eater.com reported in May 2017. But the accompanying publicity and attention will likely boost the profile of Asheville’s biggest culinary event, Chow Chow, which starts later this month. Button was a key founder of the event when it started in 2019.

All in all, it was an impressive night for Asheville and its gastronomic delights.

Thanks for reading,

-j